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Welcome to the nineteenth ‘Follow Us’ update of 2021, a space where we talk about how we’re growing in our own Ergrownomics raised planters this year, and walk you through how you can achieve the same results at home, yourself...Feel free to follow along, and be sure to follow us on Instagram & Facebook to never miss an update! As usual, key is at the bottom, so scroll down now!
The weather has changed yet again this week, with temperatures rising to 300C (well above the seasonal average and into record breaking territory for a July day!) Night-time temperatures have still remained above 200C. Fortunately, we’ve mitigated the heatwave by increasing the frequency of irrigation so that planters are receiving approximately 4 litres per day.
‘French’ (broad-leaved) sorrel in Planter 1 has finally germinated but is bit patchy, with clustering towards corners and fewer towards the centre of the planter. Nonetheless, we have plenty of seedlings to work with and we’ll wait a week before pricking the seedlings out to achieve a more uniform distribution. The ‘Red-veined’ sorrel has still not germinated but is known to be more reticent than its Gallic cousin!
Carrot ‘Imperator mix’ in Planter 2 have continued to grow well with the plants remaining in excellent condition despite the heat. Imperator carrots benefit from being deep rooted and ours routinely reach 25-30 cm long which allows them to exploit moisture lower down in the container (which is less prone to drying out). Shallow rooting carrots, including globe varieties ‘Paris Market 5 and ‘Royal Chantenay’, often recommended for container growing can suffer in high temperatures.
The four basils in Planter 3 have grown very rapidly under the cloche and have clearly benefitted from the very high humidity this promotes. We have removed the cloche on a couple of occasions overnight to allow the foliage to dry and to reduce the risk of Cercospora leaf spot infection. Basil ‘Mrs Burns’ is, to date, the most successful we’re currently growing - followed by ‘Siam Queen’ - but all are very good. We have thinned the seedlings to reduce the number to 30 per quadrant and will carry out a further thinning next week, to reduce the number by half again. The thinnings have been combined to make pesto and the stems were tender enough to allow these to be blitzed along with the leaves.
Dwarf French bean ‘Speedy’ in Planter 4 has continued to set pods but the beans have not yet fully formed and it won’t be until next week that these are ready for picking (approx. 70 days total) - 10 days longer than that claimed for the variety. We should add that the ‘Purple Teepee’ we sowed at the same time are already being harvested and are excellent, although in fairness these managed to avoid the attentions of blackbirds which proved a setback for the ‘Speedy’. The same blackbird, plus about half a dozen others, have rinsed through our blackcurrants (which are more than a month late) and were not deterred by my own appearance in the bushes to claim some for myself! They were quite indignant about my being there, in fact...
Our star of the show this week is Tomato ‘Red Profusion’ which we have just started to harvest, although admittedly ripe ones have taken a bit of finding. This is a bush cherry tomato with a very neat and compact spreading habit, that is determinate and so more or less looks after itself. There is little doubt it has a better habit than ‘tumbler’ which we’ve normally grown and usually ends up a bit all over the place! The cucumber growing on the trellis (planted in the same container as the tomato) is ‘Marketmore’ which is ever reliable, and here is providing some shade through the polytunnel, which has been much needed this week.